FA Cup : Ask Biography

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The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's tournament, although a women's tournament is also held. Its current sponsored name is The FA Cup with Budweiser.

The FA Cup was first held in 1871 � 72. Entry is open to all teams who compete in the Premier League, the Football League and in steps one to five of the FA National League System, as well as selected teams in step 6. This means that clubs of all standards compete, from the largest clubs in England and Wales down to amateur village teams. The tournament has become known for the possibility for "minnows" from the lower divisions to become "giant-killers" by eliminating top clubs from the tournament and even theoretically win the Cup, although lower division teams rarely progress beyond the early stages. The qualification rounds and a system of byes mean that the very smallest and very biggest teams almost never meet.

The holders of the FA Cup are Manchester City, who beat Stoke City 1 � 0 in the 2011 final for their fifth Cup triumph and first since 1969.